The member representing Okigwe South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has absolved President Muhammadu Buhari of blame in the exclusion of the South East zone from the leadership of the National Assembly, which was constituted on June 11.
The President is from the North West while the Vice President is from the South West regions of the country. Also, the South-south produced the party chairman just as the Senate President comes from the North East.
It was, therefore, widely expected that the zone would produce the speaker of the House of Representatives and thus have one if its own in the uppermost leadership echelon of the country but that was not to be.
However, Nwajiuba heaped the blame on some South East leaders, especially immediate past governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, whom he accused of spurning President Buhari’s plea to allow a level playing ground during the House of Representatives primaries, which would have facilitated zoning the Speakership position to the South East zone.
Speaking in a statement he personally signed, Nwajiuba said that President Buhari had no hand in the failure of the South East to produce any of the presiding officers of the National Assembly.
The lawmaker charged South East leaders to look inwards and identify politicians in the zone, who were responsible for its losses instead of blaming Mr. President.
The statement read, “I wish to urge restraint by some persons and groups in the South-east who are quick to attack unjustifiably the president over the current state of events.
“Nothing can be further from the truth. The president does not hate Ndigbo and has no reason to.
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“As a matter of fact, it was the president’s sincere wish to have the speaker emerge from the South-east and his attempts for that to happen were thwarted.
“As a matter of fact, the Presidency pressed the then All Progressives Congress (APC) governor of Imo State (Owelle Rochas Okorocha) to allow a level-playing field for the House of Representatives primaries to facilitate the zoning of the speakership office to the zone. The governor refused.
“His attempt at imposition and the resistance that ensued destroyed the cohesion of the party in the state, undermined the primaries, leading to its nullification by the court.
“I was thus compelled to seek agreement with other aggrieved members of APC to contest the Okigwe South Federal seat on the platform of Accord Party.
“While attacking the president seems expedient and easy, the truth is that there are facts that may not be available to some of those who do this.
“We in the South East must realise that if today we feel left out, it is simply because of the political actions by our leaders and we must not shy away from being introspective and taking responsibility.”
